Comments from an interview with Bruce Broughton. A simple tune floats over a placid chorale in the middle movement, representing the 30th president of the United States. “Whenever I think of or read about Calvin Coolidge, I’ve noted more his consistency, to the point of dullness, than any other quality. Taciturn ‘Silent Cal’ could never be caught laughing or expressing himself in any enthusiastic manner. He has always seemed to me emotionally flat. His father, a notary public, swore him into the presidency after the death of Warren Harding, whose ‘return to normalcy’ program Coolidge carried out. This movement portrays, if anything, consistency, relying upon no dynamic or harmonic modulation, and depends upon the positive motive from the Hill movement as an ostinato underpinning for the entire movement.”